AccuWeather's California Expert Ken Clark was live on the AccuWeather Network on Jan. 24 to discuss the wildfire threat in California.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00I want to bring in we're going to be talking with Ken Clark in here in just a moment we want to talk
00:03more about California first let's take you out to Los Angeles and you know what clear skies that
00:09means we have an offshore flow and that offshore flow is what's been driving the winds and the
00:15fires over the last several weeks here with that I do want to bring in live from Rancho Cucamonga
00:21this morning our California expert he's been working here at AccuWeather for over four decades
00:27he trained me and you can see where my career is gone uh with Ken's training and you know Ken
00:34all joking aside here this has been a disaster in southern California with these fires and
00:40even this morning we're traveling battling that fire in Otay Mountain not far away from Chula
00:47Vista and we still have several fires still burning in uh near Los Angeles we have nine
00:53total fires in southern California still the air is extremely dry uh continues to be extremely dry
00:59uh dew points below zero in some spots relative humidity still in the single percent area and
01:05that's why we still have a fire danger during the morning hours of today the good news is
01:11by this afternoon things start really changing yeah it's a little warm too Ken with temperatures
01:16in the 70s but you know what does it even matter anymore Ken the temperature when that when the
01:22wind comes out of the east northeast it's just there's always going to be enough for the starting
01:28and the rapid spreading of fires the fields can't be any drier than they are right now
01:3475 or 85 degrees it really doesn't matter all right Ken let's talk about the next storm here
01:39because you know what in meteorology it's all about location location location there's the
01:46satellite I want to play the upper area and we're going to stop it right here this is the key
01:51move Ken on where this upper low goes correct that's correct because where it's going is right
01:59right down toward the bay area and then actually a little offshore just along the uh south central
02:03California coast by the end of the weekend early next week this is far different than the pattern
02:08we've seen this low would have been farther eastward that's what created the very destructive
02:13uh wildfire winds we had earlier in the month in Palisades and the Eaton fires that low came down
02:21but it was much farther east and we had all the winds in the upper atmosphere this one's coming
02:25down right at southern California it's going to start picking up moisture from off the Pacific
02:30and we're going to see some fairly nice and impressive rain amounts before it's all said and
02:35done and you know Ken this isn't a wouldn't be a huge storm for southern California's standards
02:40during this time of the year but certainly this is easily the most impactful storm we've had in
02:47the winter season in southern California correct this is the most impactful storm we've had since
02:52last spring because Los Angeles only had 1,600 of an inch of rain since the middle of April last year
02:59so impactful lots of rain chillier to colder temperatures 20 degrees lower than or yesterday
03:06by Sunday and Monday we're looking at low to mid 50s in the valleys really quickly Ken how
03:12worried about uh debris flows in the burn scar areas I'm somewhat worried about it while this is
03:18a long duration event and that means the rainfall amounts will be over a long period of time there
03:23will be individual showers and maybe a thunderstorm that produce a heavy downpour so I am concerned
03:28about that I think the people that live around and in those burn scar areas uh have to be very
03:34conscious that it could happen all right meteorologist Ken Clark thanks